Investor Visa

Every fiscal year (October 1st – September 30th), approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified applicants under the provisions of U.S. immigration law. Employment based immigrant visas are divided into five preference categories.

This webpage explains the visa application process for Employment Fifth Preference (E5) Immigrant Investors, also called Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Select Employment Based Immigrant Visas for additional employment based immigrant visa categories. U.S. immigration law makes visas available to immigrant investors seeking to enter the United States to engage in new commercial enterprises that benefit the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment. E5 investors receive up to 7.1 percent of all employment based immigrant visas issued worldwide each year.

To qualify as an immigrant investor, a foreign national must invest, without borrowing, the following minimum qualifying capital dollar amounts in a qualifying commercial enterprise:

$1,000,000 (U.S.); or $500,000 (U.S.) in a high-unemployment or rural area, considered a targeted employment area.

A qualifying investment must, within two years, create full-time jobs for at least 10 U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or other immigrants authorized to work in the United States, not including the investor and the investor’s spouse, sons, or daughters.